Six hundred sixty six . This number is given as the number of the beast in Revelation 13:18. The number is in opposition to the mark of God (3:12; 7:3), and its mention is the climax of the satanic mimicry that dominates Revelation 13. An important textual variant intrudes here, for the Western tradition says 616 ( C, 5 and 11, and mss according to Irenaeus). The interpretation of the number of the beast has had two approaches.
A. Cryptogram
This approach assumes that either 616 or 666 is a cryptogram representing a name that the author assumes the audience will decipher (“let him who has understanding reckon the number of the beast” 3:18). It also assumes that to form the cryptogram the author used gematria or isopsephos, a technique used by both Jews and Greeks to hide names from the uninitiated by substituting the numerical equivalent of the name. Therefore, in this approach, the numerical value of the letters of the Hebrew and Greek names are added to find those names whose sum is 616 or 666.
Assuming 616 is the original reading, two identifications are Kaisar Theos, “Caesar is God” ( k = 20, a = 1, i = 10, s = 200, a = l, r = 100, th = 9, e = 5, o=70, s=200) and Gaios Kaisar, “Gaios Caesar” or Caligula (g=3, a=1, i=10, o=70, s=200, k=20, a=1, i = 10, s = 200, a = 1, r = 100). The problem with these identifications is, of course, that 616 is an inferior textual reading.
Assuming that 666 is the original reading, a proposal first put forward by Irenaeus (Haer. 5.29-30) is that 666 represents lateinos, the Greek word for “Latin” (l = 30, a = 1, t = 300, e = 5, i = 10, n = 50, o = 70, s = 200). Thus 666 represents the Roman Empire and its emperor. The problem with this proposal is that the number is given in Revelation as the name of a man, not an empire. It has been noted that the initials of Roman emperors from Julius Caesar to Vespasian equal 666, but this only works if Galba is included and Otto and Vitellius are excluded.
A second proposal is that 666 represents Nero Caesar. The Greek Neron Kaisar has a numerical value of 1,005. However, when transcribed to the Hebrew letters nrwn qsr it has the sum of 666 (n=50, r=200, w=6, n=50, q=100, s=60, r=200). The proposal that 666 is Nero Caesar may explain the 616 variant, since the transliteration of Latin Nero Caesar into Hebrew (nrw qsr) yields 616. In support of the assumption that 666 is the name of an emperor is Sib. O.5:12-42 which refers to the Roman emperors in succession by mentioning the number of the first letter of each name. This proposal linking the beast and Nero assumes that the author of Revelation was based on the well-known myth of Nero redivivus. See BLACK.
The main problems with the cryptographic position are three: (1) the usual Hebrew spelling for Caesar is q˓sr, not qsr, resulting from direct transliteration of the Greek, although the qsr form is attested; (2) the audience is supposed to have the ability to transliterate Greek into Hebrew; and (3) ancient commentators never identified 666 with Nero.
B. Symbol
This approach focuses on the symbolic nature of the number. Behind the proposals is the assumption that the phrase “a human number” does not mean “the number of a man’s name”, but “humanly intelligible” as opposed to the need for supernatural wisdom to interpret it. One proposal assumes the use of triangulation. Some numbers, called trigon arithmos, are the sum of a string of numbers. Here 666 is the sum of all the numbers from 1 to 36. In turn, 36 is the sum of all the numbers from 1 to 8. So 666 is a double triangular number. The triangular number of the beast contrasts the square numbers of the martyrs (144,000) and the heavenly city (144).
Another proposal points out that 6 is an imperfect number, being 7 a perfect number. Thus 666 represents the “superlative imperfection”. The Sib. O. 1.325-28 points out that the sum of the name of Jesus Iēsous is 888. Perfection would be represented by 777 and -superlative perfection- by 888. Therefore, 666 represents the supreme evil posed by the antichrist in opposition to the supreme good offered by Jesus Christ.
Neither of these proposals is entirely satisfactory. They should not be viewed in isolation, as both the cryptic and symbolic nature of 666 may have led to its choice as a representation of the beast.
Bibliography
Barclay, W. 1958-59. Great Themes of the New Testament. Exp Tim 70: 260-64, 292-96.
Bruins, E. 1969. The number of the beast. NedTTs 23: 401-7.
Oberweis, M. 1986. Die Bedeutung der neutestamentlichen -Rätselzahlen- 666 (Apk 13,18) und 153 (Joh 21,11). ZNW 77: 226-41.
DUANE F. WATSON